The patience that comes with old age…or is it complacency???

I was at the house of a local elderly lady this week, cleaning and providing company and as I was watching her prepare her breakfast I was suddenly struck with how patient and slowly she performs her routine.
I will just add here, its a lady I have known since being a child, almost like an adopted nanna to me now, hence the going round to help her out once a week.

Anyway, I was watching as she slowly laid the table, popped out the pills, even took the effort to close up every pill pack and ensure the leaflet goes back in each pack, the way she slowly spreads the peanut butter on the bread, so even, so surely, so precise. I took in the fact that she always gets out a saucer for the tea cups, always place mats for every item on the table. No corners are cut, nothing is rushed and I got to thinking…

How is it the elderly are so patient? How is it that those of us with the least time left are able to comfortably take the most time to do the most menial tasks? How are they so calm about the use of time?

What do they understand that we ‘youngsters’ don’t? Is it that they lose the drive to do all the things I simply can’t stop thinking about doing? do they not have so many things to read, learn, experience? Or is it simply that they have learned to appreciate the small things, take joy in the every day tasks which the younger generations rush through looking for more exciting time fillers?

Will I one day awaken to find joy in the preparation of setting the table for breakfast?

It seems surreal, how I could ever be so content with the passage of time. For me each day is carefully planned, there are so many things I feel I need to learn, so many experiences to partake in and to plan for. I am terrified of wasting my time here, of running out, of not making the most of every second, but is this terror causing me to rush through my life? Am I missing the joys of the small things in life by rushing on to the rest? Is the very thing driving me to live more causing me to actually experience less of the life I am living?

Is this the same with everyone?

Should we be consciously making more effort to actively live in every moment, to partake completely in every task, every routine of the day? Or is it that we should make more effort to remember our vigour as we age, not to let ourselves be placated with the comfort of routine???

Mobility Work

We all know how important it is to be mobile…so why don’t more of us incorporate mobility into our training?  Too ofteen we focus on the main even, muscle growth, strength, cardiovascualr fitness and even flexibility but too few of us inncorporate mobility work into our routunes.

Mobility work is a great way to warm up for a full workout, just a quick 10-15 minutes is enough to prepare your body for the moves to follow, its great for strengthening tissues around the joints and for ensuring there is enough synovial fluid build up to create cushioning for joints meaning your less prone to injury.  I use this for every workout i do, or every strenuous activity, so if i working with weights, pratising yoga or working with my dad on a building site its great preparation.

I also like to perform a longer version about every 4th day, getting more in depth moves with more reps to work on general range of motion and keeping everything mobilized on my rest days.  The moves i use generally origionate from the tacfit teams workouts with a few variation, although the accompanying facial expressions for some of the moves are all my own! ha ha

Long term it can help keep a wide range of motion throughout life, so less ageing to joints and its a great way to compensate for the reduction of the range of motion often experienced with lots of resistance training.   Its also good for co-ordination, some of the more complex moves (not shown in this clip, maybe later) can be quite a challenge to get both sides doing the same moves or indeed different things at the same time, or just to get your body moving through a new range of motions.

Mentally its a great way for either preparing your mind for a workout to follow or when im using it on my rest days, i find it quite theraputic, particularly once you know the moves and can follow them through without too much thought, the rhythmic, yet reletively gental movements seem to let the mind wander…well either wander or focus depending on what you need at the time.  It gives you a time where the body is active, but your mind is free!

Anyway here is a short clip of some of the basic moves i use for my warmups, give them a go.  I’ll follow up sometime with some of the more complex moves and some longer clips.

Over 50’s Fitness….Just how much more relaxed does this need to be??

As my regular followers will know, i have recently accepted my redundancy as the push i needed to concentrate more on my fitness career.  I have been planning new classes and covering other instructors via the local gym and throughout Cornwall self employed.

I have recently been covering some over 50’s classes for my mentor.  Her style is to basically do a standard class, just slower bpm music, with slightly fewer reps and of course with a little more time between moves etc for position changes.

I have also been looking at starting my own over 50’s class, in a certain center and as there was already an over 50’s there i contacted the instructor to see whether she thought there would be need for two there per week, i  wouldn’t want to step on toes, at the end of the day, its hard enough in  this business without doing each other over.

Anyway interesting conversation.  Her class is so completely different its unreal.   Her class are basically more of the immobile, injured or less abled clients with health conditions and disabilities of all sorts.  Alot of their work is very basic and caters for all the handicaps of the class.

So this is great as is, there is definitely scope for my style of teaching, basically for those with general good health, wanting to improve their fitness.  But it does leave me wondering exactly how i should tailor my classes.  Should i be adapting a little more to the age thing? or is this offensive for those who are able?? I know in the cover class they took great pride in informing me the instructor doesn’t go easy on them and they impressed me with their efforts!

Hmmm, I’m thinking with a rename, maybe something like fit over 50, or fighting fit at 50+ I can supply a successful class for those who want to workout without the usual gym bunnies, those who prefer to workout with those their own age, but those that are still able and determined not to let age stop them.  I cant imagine there’s anything worse than a 50 + year old than going to a class and being treated either as if they are disabled due to age, or as if they are weak for not keeping up.   There’s a fine line here with getting it right…I hope i manage to pull it off!

Any advice, or if you are of the older generation and would like to share your fitness experiences, i would be most grateful to hear what you have to say….